Sunday, January 20, 2008

There is a Surge in my pants!

It amazes me how short people's memories are. Every news source I turn to these days talks about how the "surge" in Iraq is working, how victory cannot be far away. Are these people daft? No one seems to remember what the purpose of the "surge" is. It certainly was not simply the reduction in levels of violence in Iraq from Beyond Imagination to Horrific. The reduction in violence, which is only temporary (and still quite high), was a prelude to the Iraqi government cooperating and working together to get Iraq back on track. That has not happened. The government still fails to work together to govern the country as a single entity. There are three distinct groups that refuse to work together, and are merely biding their time until the US pulls out and they can finally resolve their mutual dillema.

Neither the Shiite nor the Sunni nor the Kurds trust each other. It took an iron-fisted dictator like Saddam Hussein to keep them in line. Neighbouring states have an incentive to keep Iraq in chaos. They do not fear that the violence will spill over their borders. They fear a unified Iraq. A unified Iraq took on a country three times its' size (Iran) for almost a decade, and was not defeated by that greater force. A unified Iraq took out Kuwait in as little time as it took the US to take out Iraqi government. These neighbours will continue to oppose (in their hearts) a unified Iraq, and will continue to be obstacles to that goal. Internal and external forces are operating against the US mission working, and the US has squandered its' resources in a pointless war. No longer is their talk of the US fighting two major wars at once. The US cannot even handle a tiny country like Iraq (with approximately 20 million people). Iraq is smaller than Canada in population.

So to those who keep saying that the "surge" is working in Iraq, I say it is not and challenge them to show how the Iraqi government is finally working together.

About Me

I was born in Montreal, grew up in Toronto, lived in Japan and New York, and now I am back in Montreal. I was in the military (First Hussars Armoured Regiment), studied Kendo and Ninjutsu, have traveled a great deal, and love history.